April 28th is the 100th anniversary of the world-famous ophthalmologist-scientist, academician Zarifa Aliyeva.

The research conducted by Zarifa Aliyeva, who made exceptional contributions to the development of the science of ophthalmology in Azerbaijan, in the field of studying eye diseases, occurrence, prevention, and treatment of trachoma disease retains its scientific and practical importance even today. She is one of the authors of such rare scientific works, as “Therapeutic Ophthalmology”, “Fundamentals of Iridology”, 12 monographs, textbooks and teaching aids, about 150 scientific works, inventions and effective proposals, which are considered to be achievements of medical science.

Academician Zarifa Aliyeva had founded and led a specialized research laboratory on the professional pathology of the organ of vision in Baku, which was the first scientific centre in the former USSR and became widely known.

Mrs. Zarifa Aliyeva worked hard to train highly qualified medical personnel. She was a member of the Presidium of the All-Union Society of Ophthalmologists, the Soviet Peace Committee, the Board of Directors of the Azerbaijan Ophthalmology Society, and the editorial board of the Journal “Vestnik Oftalmologii” (“Ophthalmologic Record”, Moscow). In 1980, she was awarded the Honoured Scientist of Azerbaijan for her great scientific achievements. Besides she was the first woman scientist to be awarded the Averbakh Prize of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences for research in this field in 1981, the most prestigious one in the field of ophthalmology.

Zarifa Aliyeva was a great scientist, a true Azerbaijani woman, and an organizer of science. She had won great public love as a lifelong loyal friend of the founder-architect of the independent state of Azerbaijan, national leader Heydar Aliyev, his closest comrade-in-arm, and the mother of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev.

Zarifa Aliyeva will always live on in the hearts and memories of the people of Azerbaijan.